CAFO Greg Wojtal will retire; Heather Rowenhorst to succeed him

Seven years and a pandemic after joining Asante, Chief Administrative and Finance Officer Greg Wojtal will retire next month. Heather Rowenhorst, currently vice president of Finance, will succeed him, becoming Asante’s first female chief financial officer.

Wojtal came to Asante in January 2017 after serving as vice president and chief financial officer for Banner Health Network in Arizona. He greatest achievement at Asante was keeping the system on the strongest financial footing in its history, which would prove to be an advantage when the pandemic struck and crippled more vulnerable health systems.

Among his early accomplishments, he helped Asante refinance its bonds at an all-time-low interest rate, while also keeping Asante’s many capital projects moving forward. He developed a $1 billion, 10-year capital financing plan, which included the patient pavilion at ARRMC, the new Mary and Dick Heimann Cancer Center in Medford and the Helen K. Spears Cancer Center expansion in Grants Pass. Asante’s bond rating remained at a stable A+ even through the pandemic.

He gave his staff new challenges, including Revenue Cycle enhancements, that further strengthened Asante’s financial performance. Beyond that, Wojtal is most proud of maintaining a balance between finance, quality, customer experience and employee experience.

“Greg will be missed,” said interim CEO Roy Vinyard, who hired Wojtal. “We wish him a very happy and prosperous next phase as he heads into retirement.”

Win Howard, former senior vice president and CEO of ATRMC, was recently named chief administrative officer for Asante and will assume some of the operations oversight that Wojtal handled in addition to his finance role.

Wojtal and his wife, Karen, are buying a second home in Arizona to be closer to their children and five grandchildren, ages 3 to 17. The couple plans to travel in their RV and keep tabs on the thoroughbred horses they partially own.

“I look forward to more golf and continuing playing senior softball,” he said. “I guess we’ll become ‘snowbirds.’”

Stepping into those large shoes is Heather Rowenhorst, who has served as Asante’s vice president of Finance since November. She is the system’s first female chief financial officer, and one of the youngest Asante senior executives.

Born at ARRMC and raised in Southern Oregon, Rowenhorst started her career at Asante in June 2005 as a financial analyst. She became manager of Budget and Decision Support in 2012 and director of Finance in 2012 before being promoted to vice president of Finance in 2022.

Throughout her tenure, she gained a reputation for being highly competent and driven. Although her jobs did not require that she earn a CPA, she pursued the certification while also working full-time. (She shared her story in the Asante Women in Leadership webinar in January.)

Rowenhorst holds a master’s in business administration from Southern Oregon University and a bachelor’s in mathematics (a spreadsheet is her “happy place”) from Oregon State University in addition to her CPA license.

“Heather is very intelligent, has strong accounting and finance skills and is a “go getter done” individual,” Wojtal said of his successor. “I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring her as she gained experience and developed her executive presence. I am proud of her growth and accomplishments.”